The Pain Doesn't Leave With You
by DangerouslyCute123
Summary: Natsu left and never came back after that day... UPDATE: This story is now on Wattpad! And, just like on here, it's my first Wattpad story. So please, if you know anyone who loves Fairy Tail and has Wattpad, show them my story. Thanks! :D
1. Prologue: How it All Began

**Author's Note:** Hi! This is my first fanfic, so if anyone has any tips or tricks or advice, please tell me! Also, I obviously DO NOT own Fairy Tail and the beginning of this story is based of a doujinshi I saw. I don't own that comic either. Enjoy!

* * *

All of Lucy's pain began on that fateful day.

 ** _Flashback_**

 _Mirajane met up with Lisanna and together the two watched Natsu and Lucy talking from a distance. It was very obvious that the two liked each other as more than friends, but either they were oblivious (Natsu) or too shy to confess (Lucy). Everyone supported them, secretly of course. Even Lisanna had given up her crush on Natsu after seeing the beautiful way the pair looked at each other._

 _"You get the plan, right, Lisanna?" Mirajane asked in her sweet, but mischievous, voice._

 _"Mhm!" her sister nodded._

 _"SUPER STRAUSS SISTERS, GO!" the two shouted, jumping up from their hiding place and transforming simultaneously._

 _They had magically changed into superhero leotards, masks, and capes and were running towards Natsu and Lucy. The blonde and pinkette noticed the two and were a bit startled. Mirajane got behind Natsu and shoved him forward while Lisanna did the same to Lucy._

 _"What the-?!" Natsu exclaimed as Lucy yelped._

 _The pair was suddenly nose-to-nose, staring at each other's eyes. Natsu was lost instantly lost in his partner's big brown eyes. How could he not be? They were so large and pretty and beautiful and stunning ad amazing and..._

 _He stopped and realized that really, he was just describing Lucy. And that he was getting pulled in... closer..._

 _Closer..._

 _He closed his eyes as he touched his lips to her soft ones._

 _Lucy's eyes grew even wider with more shock. He KISSED her! Deep down, she knew that this was what she had always wanted, but at the same time, she was going through denial._

 _Natsu pulled away and stared at her and then..._

 ** _SLAP!_**

 _Lucy smacked her hand across Natsu's face. She didn't even hold back like she usually did, and it stung. It stung Natsu, not just his face, but his heart, too. She ran away, sobbing, what for she herself couldn't tell. She left without a word._

 _Mira and Lisanna watched in guilt and horror. This wasn't part of the plan! This wasn't supposed to happen!_

 _Natsu gingerly touch the red hand print on his face. "I hurt her..."_


	2. Chapter 1 - After the Incident

**Author's Note:** I do NOT own Fairy Tail. Enjoy!

* * *

Lately, Lucy had been staying in her house, trying to forget about what had happened, and she did after about a week. The tragedy of it had fogged up the memory.

Until now, that is.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stretched, and yawned. Looking around, she noticed something.

 _No Natsu? No Happy?_ she thought to herself.

Sometimes, there _were_ days where they left her alone and slept at the guild or at their own house, but usually they crashed at her place. She had actually come to expect their snoring in the morning. She felt a bit alone without Happy and Natsu...

 _Natsu..._

She gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Then she jerked her hand back and stared at it.

"I slapped him..." she whispered with guilt and sadness. Her hand clenched into a fist. "I _have_ to apologize."

She took a bath, brushed her teeth and hair, got dressed and left for the guild. She thought about how badly she must've hurt him on the way there. Of course, she new she couldn't have injured him physically. There was no _way_ that she was strong enough to do more than maybe give him a bruise, but she did now that she might've done enough to send a break through his heart. Lucy began to walk faster. She began to run. And then, she was sprinting.

She slammed open the doors of the guild. "Where is he?!" she yelled without thinking.

All her guildmates turned with solemn faces. They were wondering when their friend would come back, and dreaded the news they would have to tell her to bring her up to date. Levi approached her. "You're... You're looking for Natsu, aren't you, Lu?"

Lucy nodded. "I really need to apologize to him after yesterday. I don't know why I slapped him, I just did! I didn't mean to..."

"Lucy, Natsu isn't here today," Mira said sadly.

"Oh, okay. Did he and Happy go off on a job without me? I wouldn't blame him if he did..."

"No, he-"

"LUCY! NATSU LEFT US!" Happy cried, flying into Lucy's arms.

"What? What do you mean?" she asked, still a bit clueless but catching on quickly.

"HE LEFT AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!" Happy sobbed.

"Didn't he leave a note or something...?" Her eyes were beginning to fill with tears as she assumed the worst. Natsu would never leave Happy alone for a week without leaving a letter.

"NO! HE DIDN'T! I JUST WOKE UP ONE DAY AND HE WAS GONE! I SEARCHED OUR ENTIRE PLACE AND DIDN'T FIND A NOTE _OR_ A COMFORT FISH!" the blue Exceed sobbed.

The blonde hugged the winged cat tightly as her own tears began to fall and the rest of the guild crowded around them.

Lucy Heartfilia's heart had officially been broken.

* * *

Natsu left and never came back after that day.

He was too... UPSET with himself.

How could he hurt his best friend? She meant more than the _world_ to him! That stupid _KISS_ ruined _EVERYTHING_.

No. It didn't.

He did.

And after that day he vowed that he would do everything in his power so that no one would ever hurt her again.

Including himself.


	3. Chapter 2 - Six Months Later

Six months have passed since Natsu left the guild.

And everyday since then, Lucy has felt sad and depressed.

Her friends tried again and again, but could hardly ever seem to make her smile. And when they did, the smile never stayed on for more than a few seconds and her laughs were hollow. Happy tried to give her his "fishies" to take care of her in return for her taking care of him.

Ever since Natsu left, Lucy had been taking care of the blue flying feline. He had become a sort of mother/sister to the little Exceed. She fed him, took him on jobs, and even made him is own little bed to sleep in. Whenever he had nightmares, she let him sleep with her in her bed to calm him down.

Happy looked at Lucy and could see that the smiles she gave him were caring, but still, they didn't count. They were sad, and hollow. He knew that every time the blonde looked at him, she thought of Natsu as well, and though he was sad as well, he knew that Lucy couldn't be depressed forever. Being upset for long periods of time was not only bad for her health, it wasn't a very good look for her either!

"Lucy?" Happy asked one day as they walked to the guild.

"Yeah?" Lucy replied.

"Will you ever smile again?"

"What do you mean? I've been smiling!" Lucy said with a small laugh.

"No. All your smiles are fake. All your laughs are fake. They don't count."

Lucy was surprised. "Fake...?"

"Aw, c'mon, Lucy! You may have had yourself fooled, but not the rest of us. I bet even my fishies could see right through your act!" Happy exclaimed.

They were silent the rest of the walk to the guildhall.

* * *

"Cana?"

"Yeah, Lucy?"

"Do I look... _Sad_ to you? And please, give me an honest answer," Lucy said just as her friend opened her mouth.

Cana paused, considering whether or not she should lie anyway. Then, she reconsidered. Maybe telling Lucy that everyone could still see that she was in pain would be the push she needed to get past all this. "You do," the brown-haired girl finally said with a sigh. "We've all been trying to keep quiet about it, but I don't see any real reason to keep it from you since you're asking."

Lucy was silent. "I'm horrible," she whispered.

"Don't say that, Lucy! You're a wonderful person!" Wendy said, running over after hearing this remark.

"No. No, I'm not," Lucy replied, looking at her young, purple-haired friend. "It's my fault Natsu left."

Suddenly, Gray punched a wall, break a fist-sized hole into it. Juvia laid a gentle hand on his arm to calm him down. "THAT IDIOT!" he yelled. "LEAVING ALL HIS FRIENDS JUST LIKE THAT! WHAT THE HECK IS WITH THAT?!"

"Calm down, my love," Juvia soothed. "We're all upset, and the wounds are still fresh, but breaking things helps no one."

"She's right, Gray," Erza agreed, "Calm yourself."

"You shouldn't be made at Natsu anyway. This is all my fault," Lucy said.

"No, it's not," Lisanna objected.

"It's our's," Mira added.

"We shouldn't have pushed you two together like that," Lisanna explained. Bickslow, who had his helmet under one arm, put a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think it's anyone's fault," he said, "Right, babies?"

His totem pole puppets flew into the air. "Right!" they agreed.

Many things had happen over the course of the past six months. The sorrow of losing a friend had brought many of the guildmates closer together in order to comfort one another. Many couples had formed and a number of new members had joined from other guilds. Lisanna and Bickslow had gotten together as well as Mira and Laxus, Elfman and Evergreen, Gray and Juvia, Levy and Gajeel, Wendy and Romeo, and even Happy and Carla. Bacchus had left "Quatro Puppy" (Quatro Cerberus) to be with Cana and Jellal had rejoined Fairy Tail after getting his name cleared, leaving Meredy in charge of Crime Sorciere. (If you count him representing Fairy Tail as Mystogan in the Grand Magic Games, then he rejoined.) He and Erza are now a lovely couple, but just as somber as the rest.

The guild was actually a lot more quiet and less destructive without their loud, fire-breathing friend around. It was uncanny for the guild to complete jobs with little to no destruction at all. So odd, in fact, that several newspapers had it featured on the front page with plenty of quotes from various Fairy Tail members.

"Do you want to go on a job, Lucy? It might make you feel better," Carla offered.

"No thanks. I've already paid my rent anyway," she replied with a sad smile.

Again the place was quiet. There wasn't a murmur in the air. It was as if someone had died and they were all at a funeral.

And then, the guild doors opened.

* * *

The two giant doors that served as the main entrance of the Fairy Tail guild quietly creaked opened. Slowly, the parted to reveal a dark figure.

He wore a black cloak and donned a hood over his head, so nothing about his actual appearance could be revealed. His steps were steady as he walked inside the building. If all heads hadn't turned when the doors opened, they were now.

"And who are you?" Master Makarov asked.

"I can't tell you that yet," the figure replied. The voice was deep and rough, so it must have been a guy. "I've come in need of a companion."

Makarov got down from his seat on the bar table. "That's a bit of an odd request, don't you think."

"I guess so but I've traveled so far and alone that I realized that I needed someone to talk to before I forget how to interact with others completely."

"I can't just hand someone over to you. It has to be their choice. You know that, right?"

"Of course."

"But?"

"But I already have someone picked out."

"And just who might that be?"

The cloaked man turned in the direction of Lucy and the others. "That blue cat with the fish. I want to take him along."

Everyone gasped. First Natsu, now Happy? Why was Lucy loosing everyone closest to her?!

"What do you say, Happy?" Makarov asked.

"Me?! Well... um... I don't know..." the blue feline replied. "I think it should be more of a decision Lucy and Carla should make!"

"I think you should do whatever feels best," Carla said. "He won't be gone forever, right?"

"No, of course not. You'll see him every two months," the cloaked man answered.

"What about you, Lucy? Are you okay with me going?" Happy asked, with even more concern in his voice. Carla was strong, he knew that she could deal with his leave for two months, but Lucy was still in pain. If she didn't want him to go, he wouldn't leave.

"Will he be safe?" Lucy asked.

"Of course. I just said he would come visit every two months, didn't I?"

Lucy put a hand on Happy's head. "Happy, I can't hold you back forever. This adventure might be good for you. You could take a break from all this... guild drama."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Do whatever feels right."

"If I don't want to journey with you anymore, I can come home whenever I want, right?"

"'Course," the man replied.

"Well, then... I'll go," Happy said, with a determined face.

He got down from the table he was standing on to stand beside the cloaked man. "I guess I'll see you all in two months!" he added, managing a smile. He didn't want his leave to be somber.

The whole guild waved good-bye to their small, furry friend as he left with the stranger.

After the doors had closed once again, everything was quiet. The Levi asked, "Why'd you let him go, Lu? Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Lucy smiled. It was her first (almost genuine) smile in a long time. "Like I said, I can't hold him back from his life of adventure. And... honestly, I don't feel too sad. I think it's because I know he's going to be coming back. Even though we don't know that guy who took Happy, I have a feeling we can trust him. Why, I don't know. I just... do."

Elfman smiled himself, arms crossed over his chest, "Happy may be an Exceed, but he's a real man!"


	4. Chapter 3 - A Year After Happy's Leave

**Author's Note:** I do NOT own Fairy Tail. That is all. ;)

* * *

"I've decided that I'm going to stay there for good once we get there," Happy declared, holding his fish in his paws.

"Okay, if that's what you want," his companion replied.

Happy's ears flattened. He was hoping for a different response. "You should come, too."

"No way."

"Why not?"

"You know why."

"You can't protect someone if you're not with them, you know," Happy stated, biting into his food.

"Says who? You can protect someone from a distance."

"Not when you're hurting them in the process!"

"Oh, yeah? What if they hurt more when you're around? This is for the best, Happy."

The blue feline was starting to get really ticked off. He knew his comrade was, and always has been, a true, stubborn hothead in more ways than one. Still, Happy felt like he was about to explode from frustration. "How do you know what's best for others without even talking to them?! It's been one and a half years! Do you realize that the person you're trying to protect hasn't properly smiled or laughed in nearly two years?!" he yelled.

The person he was sitting next stopped eating as they paused to think. For a while, only the crackles of their fire filled the air. "Fine. I'll think about it," his friend finally replied.

Satisfied, Happy nodded, and they finished their meal in silence. Once they were done, his partner replenished their fire and then lay down on the ground, clasping his hands behind his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Good night, Happy."

Happy unfastened the green bundle on his back, unraveled it, and used it as a blanket.

"Good night-" he replied, but his friend's snoring cut off the sound of the name.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

"Happy should be coming back today, right?" Wendy asked Carla.

"I hope so, but then again, he may end up coming tomorrow, or even next week!" the white feline replied.

"Who do you think the guy he always comes with is?" Romeo asked.

The three were sitting at a guild table eating some breakfast. Carla sipped her tea.  
"Well, it could be anyone! For all we know, it could even be..." Carla trailed off. They all knew who she was talking about.

"I wish he would come back," Romeo said sadly. "I wanna show him the new kinds of fire my dad taught me how to make."

"And I want to show him how much stronger my dragonslaying powers have gotten," Wendy added.

"He'd be proud of you," Romeo complemented, smiling at Wendy and he took her hand.

Wendy giggled. "Thanks. He'd be proud of you, too!"

Carla smiled as well. The two of them were so cute and innocent, and yet so powerful and experiencing so many more hardships than they probably should at their age. _They really are strong_ , Carla thought to herself.

As the day went by, more guild members streamed in. Gajeel walked in with Levi who was carrying Panther Lilly. The black Exceed looked like he was forced to be picked up by the petite bluenette, which he probably had been. Bacchus joined Cana who was already at a table having a morning drink. (And by "drink" we obviously know that she was in fact gulping a barrel that was half her size.)

Erza and Jellal also walked in, the recently engaged couple holding hands. The announcement of their wedding had, believe it or not, taken over Fiore by storm. The wedding of two of the most powerful wizards in Earthland? Everyone wanted to be there!

It wasn't until midday when two particular travelers arrived.

The doors opened again, and everyone turned to see who it was. In walked a blue Exceed with a green bag tied to its back. Behind him strolled a figure cloaked in black, the identity underneath hidden.

"Happy!" Carla exclaimed excitedly. The cloud-furred Exceed glided down from the table she was on, using her aerial magic.

"Carla!" the blue cat shouted happily, wrapping his paws around her. The other guildmates were laughing at the sight of the two cats who had been apart for two months. They were glad to have their feline guildmate visit again.

"Oh, and I have an announcement to make everyone!" Happy said, breaking away from Carla. "I'm going to be staying for good this time!"

"Really? Oh, Happy, that's wonderful!" Juvia replied.

Everyone was rejoicing at this statement. Makarov was yelling about having a "welcome back" party in the evening for the return of their friend, but Lucy didn't really catch much of it. She was too busy staring at Happy's companion. "The Mysterious Stranger in Black," they called him at the guild. Just who was under that cloak?

The person watched the procession in silence, then turned to begin his leave. That's when Lucy got up and ran to him. "Stop!"

The guy turned. "What?"

"I said stop! Don't go!"

"Why? What do you want?" his voice answered.

By now silence had filled the guild again, just like it had two years ago when the stranger had taken Happy.

"Who _are_ you?" Lucy asked, her voice sounding desperate.

There was a pause before he answered, "You don't want to know."

"But I do! Why else would I have asked? And I'm sure everyone else wants to, too!"

"Then you don't _need_ to know." The mysterious stranger turned again.

The next events happened so fast that many recall it to be little more than just a blur.

"You can't leave! You have to tell us who you are! Why did you take Happy? Why did you come to our guild in the first place?!" Lucy demanded, grabbing the arm of the man.

"Let go of me!" the cloaked person said, jolted backwards to throw off the blonde.

Just then, something fell to the ground and shattered. Pieces of green-tinted, crystal-looking glass flew everywhere. There, on the ground, lay the remains of some kind of orb. The sound of the shatter made everyone stop and hold their breath, even the stranger and Lucy.

Quickly and professionally, Levi pulled out her glasses and a specific book, putting Lily on a table in the process. She got down on her knees in front of the mess, careful not to sit on any shards. The small, blue-haired girl flipped furiously through the book as her dark-haired boyfriend watched over her shoulder.

"Just as I thought!" Levi exclaimed. "This is a voice-changing lacrima!"

Everyone turned to the Mysterious Stranger in Black. "Let go of me. Now," he said quietly, in a voice most of them hadn't heard in years. Could it really be...?

Suddenly, he yanked his arm out of Lucy's grasp, careful not to hurt her. And that's when everyone saw it.

The red Fairy Tail guild mark on his shoulder.

He tried to make a break for it, shoving some people out of the way. Ice began popping out of nowhere, trying to slow him down, but he jumped on them and used them to get to the door quicker. He was incredible, he was fast, he was almost unstoppable.

Keyword: Almost.

Freed was faster. The green-haired man unsheathed his blade and pointed it to the entrance, casting the first spell that he thought of on it. The one that had worked before. "No one over the age of eighty may pass through these doors!" he shouted.

The cloaked figure didn't have time to stop himself. He slammed into the magical barrier, getting slightly stung in the process. His fists pounded against the red translucent wall that had appeared before him. Erza and Jellal pulled him away as Gray pushed him forward from behind.

The ice wizard reached a hand up to the struggling man who had failed to escape the guild. Gray grabbed his hood and roughly pulled it down, revealing a head of long, spiky pink hair and a face with onyx eyes. The face of the childhood friend he always fought with. The face that was usually smiling.

And that face that broke into a sheepish grin, right then and there.

The fire breathing dragonslayer looked at the blue Exceed that he hatched from an egg. "Guess I'm staying after all, Happy," Natsu said.

Cheers erupted from everyone in the guild.

Except from one particular blonde, whose shock had her in tears.

And whose tears cut one particular pinkette's heart into two.


	5. Chapter 4 - The First Conversation

**Note** : Fairy Tail is NOT mine! Also, thank you guys for all the favorites and follows! Your reviews are VERY much appreciated and encouraging and inspiring. They are pretty much the reasons why I keep writing! And sorry about the long wait. *Sweatdrops* Something had come up and I wasn't able to write last week. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Natsu spent the day hanging out and catching up with his friends. Romeo showed him his new tricks, Wendy showed how much more powerful she had gotten, Erza shared some of the strawberry cake she had made that day with him, and Gray and Gajeel didn't even try to pick a fight. Everyone was so elated to welcome Natsu and Happy home.

Except for one person.

He had noticed Lucy from the beginning. From the moment he had stepped into the guild. He always did. It was hard for him _not_ to. She was so pretty, and her scent was so enticing. He knew she couldn't be his. Lucy didn't want that. But still she was the beacon of light that lead him back to the guild. The light attracted him. And the light that had stung him with rejection.

Natsu could never hate Lucy for slapping him that day. He knew that he could _never_ hate her. That was practically fact to him. Almost _law_. What had happened a year and a half ago was his fault, and it would always be his fault.

Lucy stood on the edges of the crowd. She never went near him, but several times he had caught her eyes and her face seemed to plead that he come over and talk to her. Each time he ignored her. He just wasn't ready yet, wasn't ready to face her. He laughed and chatted with his other friends, but she would always be there, in the corner of his eyes, with a sad smile upon her face.

The sadness attracted him even more. It made the beacon stronger, it urged him to come closer to the her. Tugged at his heart, at his soul. It called him and asked- no, commanded- him to sit next to her, to comfort her, and tell her that everything was okay. Like he always did. Like he usually did.

Like he used to.

Eventually, his guildmates insisted that he and Happy leave in order of them to set up the party.

"We want it to be a surprise!" Lisanna said as she, Mira, Wendy, and Erza pushed the pinkette and the Exceed out of the building.

"It's not a surprise if we already know about it!" Natsu objected.

"Well, you could be surprised by the way we decorated!" Wendy offered.

"Plus, your brain is so small that you'll probably forget by tonight," Erza added.

"Hey!" Natsu yelled

The girls succeeded in getting them out of the guild, and they closed the doors behind them. Natsu sighed. "Guess we're on our own again, Happy."

"I guess so!" Happy replied, but the smiles on both of their faces never left.

Natsu locked his hands together and put them behind his head in his old, carefree way, but he was _anything_ but carefree. The two best friends began to wander around Magnolia, not knowing where they'd end up. Well, Happy caught on eventually, but he didn't say anything, and Natsu was too lost in thought (which may seem like a miracle, but it had grown not to be those days) to notice where his own feet were taking him.

But neither of them knew that Erza was right about Natsu forgetting about the party. She just wasn't correct about the reason _why_ he would forget.

* * *

Natsu stopped once he noticed that they had reached a particular building. It was all too familiar and brought back waves and waves of nostalgia and sadness. And it wasn't just because of all of the sadness he smelled coming from it.

Happy looked up at Natsu. "So. Are we going in how we used to?"

He looked down at Happy. He knew he shouldn't, but he had stayed away for so long. Had stayed away from Lucy for so long, and when she was so close back the guild, it had just felt like the distance between them grew even more. Natsu didn't want to smell her scent from far away anymore. He wanted it to engulf him like it always had. And he knew how he could get what he wanted, and the idea was enough to finally make him cave.

"Yeah," he answered, looking up at the bedroom window of Lucy's house.

* * *

Shortly after Natsu and Happy left, Lucy got up from her table.

"Where are you going, Lu?" Levy asked.

"I think I'll go home before the party," she replied.

"You sure? Don't you want to stay and help decorate with us?"

"Yeah. I'm feeling kind of tired, so I'm just gonna catch a quick nap so I have enough energy for the party," Lucy said, making an excuse.

She could see that Levy saw right through he lie, but Levy, being the good and understanding friend that she was, let it slide and simply nodded. "Okay. See you later, then, Lucy!"

"Right."

She walked out, taking her usual route along the edge of the street next to the river.

When she got to her house, she opened the door and let herself in with a sigh. Natsu was back, and she was sure that he hated her more than ever. And she knew for a fact that she hated _herself_ more than ever for chasing Natsu away one and a half years ago. She climbed the stairs to her room, so busy with wondering how she was going to handle Natsu being back that she didn't notice the sound of familiar snoring until she had reached her bedroom.

The room was dim and the light of the golden sunset filtered in through a window. She could just make out the shape of a body in her bed wrapped up in her pink sheets as well as a smaller figure curled up in a smaller bed of to the side. The shapes rose and fell in time with the sound of every breath. It couldn't possibly be...

But she knew it was the closer she quietly stepped to her bed. It was Natsu, messily cocooned in her blankets up to his nose, his breathing slow. He was asleep.

She sat at the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb her slumbering friend.

 _Friend_.

Did she even deserve to call him that anymore?

Lucy stared at Natsu's peaceful face. Suddenly, his eyebrows furrowed and he started muttering in his sleep. _A nightmare?_ she thought. She gently stroked his head, and that appeared to calm him, so she kept doing it until his eyebrows relaxed and his ragged breathing turned back to normal. Sadly, she began caressing his face, and with a jolt realized that it was the same cheek she had slapped.

For a moment, she paused, her hand raised over her former partner's face. It wasn't read like it had been the last time she had seen him. Had _really_ seen him. She went back to moving her hand up and down his cheek and sighed again. He was so peaceful. It was almost as if nothing had ever gone wrong between them. As if she had never wronged him.

Natsu groaned and his eyes fluttered. Lucy's heart nearly stopped as he began to sit up.

* * *

He dreamed of losing her again. Of failing her. Of hurting her. He felt her hate, her anger, her embarrassment, his own pain. Why did he do it? Why was he attracted to her like a moth to a flame?

And then he calmed again. He didn't know why, but it suddenly felt as if a wind was blowing over him, soft and gentle. It told him to relax, that everything would be okay. And even though he didn't believe it, it also told him that she wasn't mad at him at all, and that _she_ in fact was the one at fault.

The first thing he thought when he began to wake up again was how stupid he was. How stupid his dream was, pinning the blame on Lucy. It was _his_ fault.

He awoke to the touch of something moving gently across his face. Slowly, he opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of them. The smell in the room was stronger than when he had come in, stronger than it was when it had intoxicated him and lulled him to sleep. Almost as if she had been here. Almost as if she was there...

Quickly, he turned, his eyes wide. Sure enough, there she was, staring at him with those big, chocolate brown eyes of hers and her delicate hands over her mouth. Natsu yelled, jumped away from her, and landed onto the opposite side of the bed as a squeak escaped from her mouth. He thought, _how cute_ , and then immediately began smacking himself, physically, over and over again. It was a miracle that Happy was still asleep.

Lucy grabbed his hands. "Natsu, stop!" she whispered. And he did, then swiftly pulled his hands out of hers, looking away and tucking them under his arms.

"Natsu..."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. I'll go now," he said, scooting to the edge of the bed. She grabbed his arm for the second time that day.

"No. I don't want you to go. We haven't talked all day."

"Yes we have. We're talking right now!" he moved to go again, but Lucy wasn't letting go this time.

"We haven't talked like we used to. You're back, but nothing feels the same."

"That's because nothing _is_ the same!" he exclaimed quietly. "And it's all my fault."

"You're fault?! No it wasn't! It was _my_ fault. I'm the one who slapped you after you..." Lucy trailed off.

"Yeah, see? I k... I did that _thing_ first, and that's what made you slap me. I made you hate me," he still wasn't looking at her.

"No, you didn't. It's my fault. It's all my fault. Ever since I slapped you that day, I've regretted it. I've hated myself, and I think that I might always will."

"Then that's also my fault. My fault for making you feel that way."

"But it's not!"

"But it _is_!" he sighed and lowered his voice even more so that Lucy had to strain to hear. "You get why I... Why I kissed you, right?"

She nodded. "Yes. Because... Because you like me right?"

Natsu shook his head. "No, it's because I lo-" he stopped. This was going too far. "I should go."

Lucy kept a firm grip. "What were you going to say before you stopped?"

"You don't want to know."

"But I do!"

"You rejected me the first time because I hurt you by saying it the first time. I'm not saying it again, especially with words."

"Can you at least tell me why you left one and a half years ago?" Lucy pleaded.

"Why did I leave?" Natsu chuckled softly and somberly. "I left to train myself to protect you."

"Protect me from what?"

He still didn't meet her eyes, but he did actually look at her beautiful face this time. "To protect you from everyone and everything that could harm you. That could hurt you. New threats are always coming up, and they always have the potential to injure, hurt, and kill, but most of all," Natsu took a deep breath, "I left to protect you from _me_."

Lucy took a sharp intake of breath, her eyes widening and her grip loosening. He left to protect her from _himself_?! She had really hurt him, didn't she?

She opened her mouth to say something when Natsu gently shook her off and walked over to Happy, cradling the sleeping blue cat in one arm and walking to the window. Using his other arm, he opened it and turn to Lucy again. "Good-bye, Lucy," he said quietly, then turned again and jumped down onto the streets of Magnolia.

Lucy hurried to the window and watch the pink-haired dragonslayer sprint off in one direction, feeling just as guilty and sad as she had when Natsu had left all those months ago.


	6. Chapter 5 - The Second Conversation

It had been a week after the welcome back party. Gray, Natsu, and Gajeel had started their daily fights again, and the guild almost seemed to be the same guild it was a year and a half ago.

Almost.

There was just one thing missing: the Natsu and Lucy interactions.

Everyone saw it immediately. Natsu never went up to Lucy. Lucy never went up to Natsu. They would be within five feet of each other and just pretended the other didn't exist. Natsu never went on jobs with Lucy, Lucy didn't do a single job with Natsu. The guild members talked about it, some even confronted the two, separately of course, but they never got very good answers.

As the days went on, one week became two and everyone was tired of not seeing the two together. There was several attempts to get the to talk to each other, but none of them worked to everyone's disappointment. They gave up by Thursday.

And that's when Natsu noticed.

It used to be the the pinkette was so dense that he couldn't notice anything. He didn't care when his dense-ness had gotten him in trouble in the past because it never got anyone else in trouble with him. And then the time came when he set out on his own; that was when he realized that he didn't want to be oblivious anymore.

When he told everyone about how he had trained alone with just Happy for company, he hadn't relayed how they had also visited libraries and learned to read people. He was smarter and less dense, but it still to him a while to realize what were sometimes things that were so obvious even Happy could understand them. That was okay, though, as long as he could read people better.

He realized, on Thursday, what everyone had been trying to do that week. He also realized how depressed he felt. All the fights and jobs and excitement had just been distractions. Sure, he felt great, but once he wasn't doing something, he felt empty. The dragonslayer knew someone who could make him feel less empty, but she was the only kind of golden fire he didn't want to have anything to do with.

By Friday evening, the emptiness had grown so much that he couldn't take the depressing feeling anymore. Natsu left Happy with Panther Lily and Carla, then walked over to Lucy's apartment.

The downstairs lights were on; he had a feeling she had gone there after leaving the guild that afternoon. Almost by instinct, he reached up to scale the wall and climb in through the bedroom window, then thought better of it and knocked on her door instead.

The door opened a crack a few moments later by the smiling blonde, "Hi! Can I help you..." The smile fell off her face as she trailed off and realized who it was. "No window this time?"

He ignored her last question. "We... need to talk."

She closed the door, and he worried that she didn't want to speak to him still, but relaxed when he heard her unlatching the door from the wall. Lucy opened the door wider without a word. Closing the door behind her, she followed Natsu up to her bedroom.

He sat on her bed, pretending to be interested in her pink sheets as she sat down on the opposite end of the bed. "So what did you want to talk about?" Lucy asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Natsu kept his eyes on the sheets. "I feel empty," he said quickly, trying to get the words out before he could stop himself.

There was another moment of silence, and then Lucy quietly said, "I know what you mean."

He looked at her for the first time. "You do?"

The Celestial wizard nodded, but still stared at her boots. "Yeah. It's like something's missing, and I know what it is, it's just..."

More silence. The sun's final orange and gold rays began to fill the room.

"I'm sorry," Natsu said finally.

"W-what?"

"I said I'm sorry!" he suddenly yelled. Lucy jumped.

"I'm sorry," he repeated again, quieter this time, "For being an idiot. For being so dense that I'm always the last person to understand something. For being a horrible friend, for running away, for... everything."

"Natsu..."

"This was a mistake, I shouldn't have come." He got up to leave, but then-

"I'm sorry, too," Lucy said softly as she stood up, too. It was barely audible to a human ear, but Natsu caught it and froze in his steps.

"I'm sorry for slapping you." Her voice was beginning to crack. "I'm sorry for ignoring you and for reacting the way I did a year and a half ago and for hurting you..."

Lucy was crying now. The fire dragon prince walked back over and stared at the blonde for a while...

...Then slowly wrapped his arms around her.

Nothing needed to be said then. In that moment, the silence was what they needed. She cried softly, he buried his face into her hair. After what felt like centuries, the pulled back. Natsu wiped the tears from her face.

"We've been really bad to each other," he said with a sad chuckle.

Lucy smiled a little and giggled. "We have."

"Let's never go through this again."

"I love you too much to go through that again. You have to know that the pain doesn't leave with you, Natsu. It only gets worse."

And they kissed softly as the final rays of the sun died and gave way to the twinkling stars and a silver moon.

* * *

"Natsu left in quite a hurry yesterday," Carla said, sipping her morning tea.

"He was really tired," Happy replied, munching on a fish. "I flew home and found him snoring on the couch."

Levi sighed as she patted Happy's head. She, Erza, Wendy, Juvia, Carla, Happy, Wendy, and Romeo were gathered at one of the many guild booths eating breakfast together. "When do you think they'll talk again?"

"Who knows?" Juvia asked. She was dressed in her dark clothes, the outfit she wore when she was depressed, "They may never speak to each other again."

No one spoke a while, they just let the noise of the rest of the guild fill their non-existent conversation. Everyone in the guild felt only a portion of what Natsu and Lucy must have been feeling, and it was already painful for them. What those two must be feeling was probably pure agony!

"Where is Natsu, anyway?" Erza finally asked Happy. "Why didn't he come with you?"

The blue Exceed took another bite of fish. "I don't exactly know, he just said he had to do something before coming to the gui-"

The doors opened and in walked a couple, hand-in-hand. They were smiling, laughing, and talking together.

Happy's mouth dropped open. "No way!"

The two walked over to their table. The guy put a hand on Happy's head. "Hey, Happy!" Natsu said cheerfully.

They were in a stunned quietness. In fact, everyone conversation in the guild had disappeared entirely!

"What's everyone staring at?" Lucy asked with a nervous laugh. She knew what they were staring at, but she had to say _something_.

" ** _SERIOUSLY?!_** " the entire guild yelled. They both jumped. The noise was piercing for Lucy, she was sure Natsu wouldn't be able to hear anything for a while.

"They were talking!" Wendy cried.

"Yesterday, they wouldn't even look at each other, now their holding hands?!" Gray exclaimed.

" _ **WHAT HAPPENED?!**_ " the entirety of the guild screamed.

"What the heck is everyone saying?!" Natsu exclaimed. "I can't hear anything!"

After Natsu regained his hearing, they told their friends how they became a couple.

"So, what? Natsu came to you're house and that's all?" Romeo asked.

"You don't need to know the details, Romeo," Natsu said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Well, _I_ want details!" Levy said to Lucy.

"Fine, I'll give you specifics later, but I don't really want everyone to know exactly what happened," Lucy replied.

"You can trust me, my lips will be sealed."

"It's about time," Makarov said. "We should celebrate this!"

" _Another_ party, Gramps?!" Natsu asked.

"Hey, it's been a hard two weeks since the last one, and you two didn't talk at all. That made the whole thing a sorry excuse for a party. But since you two have finally made up, we can have a _real_ party!" the old man laughed.

That night, the Fairy Tail guild experienced one of the best parties of their lives.

* * *

 **Note** **:** I just had to put the note at the end of the chapter this time. Quick disclaimer: The AWESOME Fairy Tail does not belong to me, it belongs to the great, Hiro Mashima!

I'm sorry it took so long to update! I've been very busy and also had to focus on another one of my stories. This chapter feels kinda short, but there WILL be an epilogue I promise you that!

I gave Natsu the title "Fire Dragon Prince" because he technically is, right? I mean, if Igneel is the King of the Fire Dragons, the Natsu must be the prince... right...?

Anyway, thanks for reading! R&R! Every review is appreciated! :D


	7. Chapter 6 - The End (Epilogue)

**Note:** I don't own Fairy Tail OR the characters from Fairy Tail: Next Generation. FT belongs to Hiro Mashima and FT:NG belongs to its respectful owner

* * *

"...And that's how daddy and I got together," Lucy finished, lifting her daughter into the air.

The little, pink-haired dragon slayer stared at her mother with big, brown eyes, "Reawy?"

"Yes, really!" Lucy giggled with a smile.

Nashi began kicking her legs. "Put me down, mommy!"

She swung her around. "What's the magic word?"

The little girl pouted in the same way her father did when he was doing some "intense" thinking. After a moment, she finally said, "Pwease?"

Lucy set her down and ran after her as Nashi took off like Jet. "Nashi! Where are you going?! Levy, could you watch Layla while I go after Nashi? Thanks!" she yelled back after Levy nodded.

She burst through the giant guild doors as if any six year old could naturally do it. Even though she was still small, she could run very fast, and Lucy caught up to her just in time to see her tackle her father to the ground where he was teaching her five-year-old brother, Liddan, dragonslayer magic.

"OOF!" Natsu fell flat on his face as his daughter forcefully jumped onto his back.

"Nashi, what are you doing?! Dad was teaching me magic!" Liddan exclaimed.

She ignored him, and instead lifted her father's face out of the ground and squished it into a fish face. Happy started laughing.

"Daddy, how come you were so mean to mommy and left for so long?!" she scolded.

Around them, Lucy, Wendy, Romeo, Gray, Juvia, Erza, Jellal, Carla, and their kids started laughing as well. "W dw yoo mean, welft?" Natsu asked, trying to talk with his face being compressed by six-year-old hands. Their friends laughed harder.

"Nashi, daddy can't talk when you do that to him," Lucy said, Taking Nashi off of Natsu.

Natsu got up and dusted off his arms. "What's she talking about?"

"I may have told her about how we ended up together..."

"Isn't she too young for that stuff?"

"I am too old enough!" Nashi yelled.

"That's our Nashi, a little romantic," Lucy replied.

"DAD! I THINK I GOT IT!" Liddan shouted. "Look, mom! Look what dad taught me!" He took a deep breath, and then...

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!" Out came a small ball of fire from his mouth. Liddan frowned. "Dang it, I really thought I had it!"

"It's okay, son. Someday, you'll be able to fry your Uncle Gray just like me. Watch," Natsu said, " **FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!** "

Gray was blackened by the magic.

"Okay, well all this practice has got me hungry. Let's go get something ta eat!" Natsu excused, picking up Liddan in a fireman's carry. The boy laughed as they raced away from an angry Gray.

"GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID FIRE-FISH! I SWEAR I'LL FREEZE YOU INTO A POPSICLE THE SIZE OF DELIORA FOR THAT!"

* * *

That's our "show"!

And now I bid you all adieu. ~DangerouslyCute123

 _ **Fin**_


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